Professional Toolbox

Courts in New York City and Illinois have found that families are repeatedly kept apart solely because they lack decent housing.

"Memaw Dies"

Huron County won't allow death bed request because "Not in the best interest" of children

Mildred "Brent" Timperman passed away at her home on July 12, 2006. Known
as Memaw to the Gravelle children, she lived next door to the Gravelles for six years
and had an active part in their lives. Some of the children were very attached to her.
She cooked meals on a daily basis and helped to care for them. It gave her the will to
live after her husband died.

The children loved to spend the night over at Memaw's and the little ones would sometimes
take their blanket and pillow to Memaw's for their naptime. During the summer of 2005,
Memaw had storage shed erected on her property so that the little children could ride
their tricycles in the wintertime. Her back patio was strewn with toys, as was her living
room when the children were there. She loved those children!

After the children were taken by Huron County, she had a picture of a big yellow ribbon
painted on the side of the shed with the message "Bring the Children Home, Lots of
Love, Memaw. We Love You, Mom and Dad." When the Gravelles took pictures of the shed
to show the children at a visitation, the social workers wouldn't allow the children to see
them because, "It might make the children feel guilty."

As she lay dying, she kept asking to see the children. The Gravelle's attorney contacted
Huron County Children's Services who felt it would not be in the best interest of the
children to visit their grandmother.

David Broehl, Administrator of Huron County Children's Services, suggested that the Gravelles
videotape Memaw on her deathbed and they would show it to some of the children! The Gravelles
are appealing their case to have the children returned. How horrible and emotionally devastating
this is going to be for these children when they find out that their grandmother wanted to see
them before she died and they couldn't see her one last time.

Soon after the children were taken, Memaw made a very profound statement, "Huron County
doesn't know it yet, but they've got a hold of a hornet's nest and they aren't going to be able
to let go!"

Why is this happening? One of the basic reasons is a conflict of interest for social workers,
both in county and adoption agencies. Social workers are human and subject to biases and
prejudices based on their character, integrity and training. In county agencies, social workers
are trained to take children out of homes and put them into foster homes in order to keep getting
huge amounts federal funding for their agencies and thus, keep their jobs.

Because they have sovereign immunity from the Federal CAPTA Act passed in 1937, they can do
anything they want including lie, threaten, file false information and false allegations to
get a search warrant, commit perjury, and try to alienate children from loving parents and
families by the same techniques used by terrorists (Stockholm Syndrome) and vindictive parents
(Parental Alienation Syndrome). They also use drugs to control unhappy foster children, which
only programs them for later drug abuse.

Social workers in private adoption agencies need to keep placing children for adoption in
order to keep money coming into their agencies. Because of this need to adopt out children,
the social workers that do home studies for their agencies, write glowing reports of families
desiring to adopt. When naive parents tell the social worker of previous problems, they are
told that if the information is five or ten years old, it can no longer be held against them.

The adoptive parents aren't allowed to read this report, but may be asked to sign at the bottom
of the page acknowledging that the home study was done. It then looks like they have agreed to
the information written by the social worker. Later on, if the adoptive parents are investigated,
they may be charged with giving false information and/or perjury because of this signature.

Another issue with private agencies is that if they refuse to let a child be adopted because of
a negative home study, the parents may go to another agency. If the second agency allows an adoption,
then the first agency gets a bad reputation and parents will stop trying to adopt through them. It's
bad for business when a social worker writes a negative home study because adoptive parents pay
private agencies thousands of dollars to adopt children.

There is no cost to adopt from public agencies. However, if they do not keep placing children
in foster care and adopting or re-adopting children, they will lose huge amounts of federal
funding. Since all this information is public, all one has to do is request it from the county
auditor. Much of this money goes to county employees. You can also request the salaries of county
employees from the auditor.

If this money were used to help parent's correct "problems" and keep their children at
home where they belong, there would be less need for all the county workers, which creates a
conflict of interest for county workers. Instead of paying money to foster parents, why is this
money not being used to help parents keep their children at home?

The federal CAPTA laws that were enacted in 1937 were meant to protect children from abuse but
instead are being used by CPS to abuse families and children.

One of the children was moved "again" in May because he got mad about something so
he "peed" all over the walls and expensive carpet and furniture. The foster mother
called children's services and said, "Get him out of here NOW!" The Gravelles wouldn't
have done that. They would have asked Elaine Thompson what they could try now to control the
behavior. The sheriff should go to that foster home and he might smell urine there too, but now
he'll understand why.

The expenses to appeal a case are enormous. So far, $10.000 has been paid just to the court
reporters for the cost of the court transcripts. They now want an additional $2040.00.

PLEASE keep the Gravelle family in your prayers and help them in their fight to have their
children returned home where they are loved no matter what they do. Donations can be made to
the Gravelle Family Defense Fund at Key Bank, 11-13 West Main St., Wakeman, OH 44889 (or any
Key Bank).